Winnipeg Rocks & is Hot!

All Canadian music lovers' ears will turn towards Winnipeg this weekend for the upcoming Juno Awards on Sunday, April 3. The event has not been without controversy after the snubbing of hometown musical hero Randy Bachman. Fortunately, Bachman is back onboard and the weekend promises to be one to remember for Winnipeg music fans.

So why is the music scene in Winnipeg hot? How have artists connected to Manitoba sold more than 100 million records world-wide?

According to Randy Bachman, it is the cold weather itself which helped to create a hot Winnipeg music scene. In an interview in Macleans by STEVE LAMBERT, Bachman says:

"Because of the climate . . . you're kind of six months underground in your basement. [The community clubs made it] pretty much like a little Liverpool. There must have been 150 bands from '62-'69 with hundreds of places to play - community centres, church halls. A big dance was the school gymnasium."

Canadian music historian John Einarson, regarding the Winnipeg scene which spawned Neil Young, Randy Bachman, and Burton Cummings of The Guess Who, among others, said:

"Winnipeg is regarded as having a very unique and special contribution to Canadian music."

Neil Young's Boyhood Home in Winnipeg, Canada - photo by Bill Laing
When Neil was in Winnipeg in 1992, for his father Scott's induction into the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame, biographer Jimmy McDonough writes in Shakey (via Winnipeg Free Press):

"As we drove outside the city one day, across the endless prairie, I heard the lonesome clanking of Young's Harvest in my head. I felt a lot of Winnipeg in Neil."

From a CTV report covering the Junos of an interview with longtime Neil fan Bill Laing on Young's Winnipeg hometown:

" "I'm a huge fan to the point of what my wife considers obsessive," said Laing, who lives in Gimli, Man., and is a contributor to the fan website Thrasher's Wheat, www.thrasherswheat.org.

He's keeping an ear to the ground in the hopes Young, who's career has spanned 40 years, might make a surprise stop at one of the local bars on Saturday night, but isn't holding his breath.

"If you know Neil's background you know he's evasive and elusive," said Laing, who purchased tickets to the Junos to ensure he'd get to see his idol in the flesh."

Winnipeg musician Bill Laing, who wrote and took the photos for the above article on Neil's Winnipeg, has put together his debut self-produced CD. Thrasher has really enjoyed hearing the project evolve from Neil covers to original material.

Laing covers such Neil Young tunes as "Pocahontas", "Old Man", and "Cowgirl in the Sand". The covers of Neil are done in a faithful approach that any Neil fan can appreciate right down to the harmonica rack and Neil's interesting tunings and vocal phrasings.

On Laing's original songs he really shines, particularly on "West 231", which is a nearby Winnipeg road. Lyrics from "West 231":

"Driving West 231
fence posts pass
like the setting sun
time and space the veil between
souls pass through
yet not always seen."

The song evokes the prairie space and spirit and even includes a nice little sound effect of a car whooshing by on Winnipeg, Manitoba Highway West 231.

Nice job, Bill.

Click to hear MP3's of Bill Laing's Neil Young cover songs.

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